By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

RESERVE – When Riverside’s Dylan Martin spoke of a repeat performance in the dugout before the bottom of the third inning in Tuesday’s Class 2A regional playoff game against Newman, he had no idea how prophetic his words would become.

A solo home run by Martin sparked a 10-run inning that springboarded Riverside into the state quarterfinals for the second straight season. The Rebels captured a 13-2 10-run rule victory over their former district rival, and will face 10-2A foe John Curtis for the fourth time this season today for a trip to the state baseball tournament in Shreveport.

Riverside’s third inning exploits mirrored what it did against Runnels in the bi-district round, at least early on.

Like Runnels, Newman held a lead entering the bottom of the third inning — the Greenies were ahead 1-0 — when Dylan Martin came up to bat to lead off the inning for Riverside (14-18-1).

Martin stepped up and slammed a home run to left center. Bryant Tassin singled, and Chase Bazile hit the inning’s second home run.

Almost the exact same sequence occurred in the Runnels victory—and after each hit, a giddy Rebels’ dugout erupted in excitement and a little disbelief.

“Dylan told us, ‘It’s about to happen again, just like last time,’” said Riverside coach Britt Waguespack. “He called it.”

Said Martin: “I said, ‘Are you ready for a repeat of last game?’ I didn’t really expect it to happen just like that, but it did. I led off with the home run, then Bryant singles to the exact same spot. And Chase’s home run maybe dropped three feet to the left of his last one.”

Unlike the third inning in the Runnels game, though, the Rebel bats just kept going, eventually piling up a 10-run frame that included four home runs.

With the Rebels ahead 3-1, Ritchie Terrio singled and Jake Roussel homered to center to make it 5-1. Tate Scioneaux singled, Dylan Becnel walked and Grady Geiger reached on an error to load the bases.

That drew Austin Vicknair to the plate to face reliever Neil Bronfin, who came on for starter Daniel Martinez. It didn’t matter, as Vicknair responded with — what else? — a grand slam home run that made it 9-1.

“It’s awesome just to be a part of that,” said Vicknair of the big inning. “It’s a great feeling, and you just do what you can to keep it going.”

Terrio would add an RBI single later in the inning to make it 10-1. Bazile, Tassin and Martin each collected RBI singles in the fourth to round out the Rebel scoring.

“Offensively, we hit it as well as we can hit it,” said Waguespack. “I don’t think we swung at a bad pitch that inning. We got on top of the fastball, and that’s what we preach.”